jroelive

By far, my father has been the greatest influence in my life.
Perfect? No.
Humble enough to ask forgiveness when he isn’t perfect? Yes.
My dad, George “Bubba” Rose, Jr…

His passions? The man in the picture above loves Jesus. He is a student of the Bible, and has been since he was saved by the grace of God while at Appalachian State University back in the early 70’s. He lives each day to gain more insight into the heart of God. He lives each day to fight sin well and to glorify God much.

He loves my mother, Nedra. Never in my 30+ yrs of life have I seen any man love a woman the way my dad loves my mom. The only close second would be my grandfather (my dad’s dad), and the way he esteems my grandmother.

He loves his family. Everything my dad did in life–whether it be mowing the yard, going to the store, kicking a football miles into the sky–he did it with us. He has carried this into his relationship with my three kids, his grandkids. He When we get together it is as if I have four kids! He is such a family guy.

He loves good food and great fun. When trying to explain the personality of my father, I often will say that he is a man who laughs with his whole life. You are not with him for long until he lets out a jolly laugh that fills the room. Then you find yourself in laughter yourself! Also, each time he sits down to eat a meal (whether in Togo, India, Peru, or the U.S.), he will assure you that that particular meal is the “best I’ve ever eaten! EVER!!” That’s my dad.  

The bottom line about this guys is that your are not with him for more than five minutes before he talks about Jesus Christ, Nedra Rose or his family. It is far from rare that he is moved to tears when talking about the aforementioned.

His love for me? I love this man because he loves me. I never, NEVER remember him ever belittling me or making me feel insignificant. My dad views every failure of mine (there have been many) as an opportunity to love me and encourage me in spite of my failure.

Even in times of discipline (there were many), he would say with tears in his eyes “Son, daddy loves you. I love you enough to tell you the truth. I love you enough to care how you live life. I am only doing this because I can’t help but love you. You are my son.”
Also he would say, “Jeremy, there is nothing you could ever do that would ever make me love you anymore than I do right now. Son, there is nothing you could ever do that would ever make me stop loving you or begin loving you any less than I do right now.”

It is easier for me to understand the love of God because I have Bubba Rose as my father. I pray that my children will be able to say the same thing for me.

The above mentioned isn’t necessarily just because my dad tried really hard to do this or to become that. The only reason my dad is the way he is is because of the grace of God. My dad constantly seeks to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ more clearly and deeply. As a result of the hunger for God that God Himself has placed in my father, my father is who he is. He is reliant upon the Holy Spirit to teach him how to act and why. Jesus has made a difference in my dad and as a result he has made a difference in me.

I love this man. Thank you, Jesus. Thanks dad.

photo courtesy of LuAnn Hunt Photography

admin Christian Life, Documentary, Men Children, Family, humility, Jesus, Men, Parenting, The Gospel

I was blown away when I viewed this clip. I caught this on www.theResurgence.com

From Mike Anderson:
Above is a video that made me tear up a bit to see two strangers get to worship Jesus in such a sincere way—the action starts at 0:30.

Apparently they were shooting a music video for a Sunday service and a homeless man came into the frame and started singing to Jesus out of the blue—wow.

It’s been a long time since I posted without having someone edit it first, but I thought this was too good to wait. Please share this with friends on Facebook and Twitter if you think they’ll benefit.

This video is from @loswhit and the guys at Buckhead in Atlanta.

admin Great Story, Music humility

I found this today. This video documentary of Samkon Gado was filmed last year when he was with the Texans. He has since signed with the St. Louis Rams. On his very first run of the season this year he ran for a 77 yard touch down!

Pray for him as he strives to live a gospel-loving, Christ-honoring, repentance-filled life in the NFL. I know Sam personally. He and my brother were roommates back in college.

admin Christian Life, Documentary, Men, Missions college, humility, Liberty University, Men, Prayer Walking, Truth

On Monday, March 30th I visited Liberty University as a guest lecturer for their Youth Ministry Emphasis Week. I gladly accepted the opportunity. I have been involved with youth work for over thirteen years. I am “leaving” youth ministry this year to plant and pastor The Axis Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

Below is the challenge I gave to over three hundred youth ministry students in the three hours worth of lecturing that I had with them.

—————

I began my time by apologizing. You see, I had lectured at LU several other times over the course of the previous five years. I apologized for the previous five years worth of guest lecturing at LU. You see, I would do my best to get people to laugh, think I am cool, make them want to be like me and have them leave the time together wishing they could be like me and serve with me. I apologized for previously wasting their time and for being arrogant, deceitful, wrong—sinful.

Then I asked a question. What will you do or not do in order to say Acts 20:26-27 as you leave a church youth group (church hopping is a different subject for a different time)? Acts 20:26-27 says (Paul speaking to the Ephesians),
“26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

My question could have been worded, how do you leave a place saying this? As I presented this, I challenged them to think through the term “whole counsel of God.” What is that exactly?

I then read to them 1 Timothy 6:20, “20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge.” What is the “deposit”?

The whole counsel of God and the deposit are both speaking of the reality—the truth—of Jesus Christ; better, the gospel! What we have done in America today with youth ministry is nothing short of selling or giving a false bag of goods. (I know this is not every youth ministry but it definitely covers a solid 90% of them…my estimation) When we do not deliver the complete truth of the gospel, what we give is nothing short of unbiblical.

However, focusing on games, videos, gags, jokes and skits (not necessarily wrong in and of themselves) will grow a youth group—a pretty good sized one at that (I know this!). However, giving kids fun and “growing” a “successful” youth ministry is not what we are called to do. We are called to DEPOSIT the WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD to these teens and their parents so that we are innocent of their blood. We can say that we gave them the Truth, the WHOLE truth and nothing but the Truth.

I cannot honestly say that I have done this. In my 13 years of youth ministry I can say I did it very wrong for nearly 11years. It is extremely freeing to know that I did it “right” or biblical for at least 1½years. This is very humbling and sad but also true.

After my honest beginning, I asked another question…
How do you deliver the whole counsel God that has been deposited to you? I offered three ways. (Of course there is more—this is my three)
1. Know the whole counsel of God yourself
2. Live as if the gospel is living, powerful and real (because it IS!)
3. Allow the truth of the gospel to so burn within you that you begin to apply the gospel to every part of your life

You see, if we want to produce kids who burn for Christ, we must first—as leaders—burn for Christ. The problem with youth ministry today isn’t the lack of programming (we are great at that) it’s the lack of passion and hunger for the gospel—which is rarely gained through educational training. Youth pastors/leaders would rather sleep, play Halo (and consider it ministry, which it sometimes is—but will it cause kids to burn for Christ or just YOU?), look at porn or make out with their boy/girlfriends.

When you, as a leader, do not burn for Christ and when you stop studying the Word in order to accurately deliver the whole counsel of God you…
• Do little “cute” things (that will not cause Christ to burn inside them)
• Rely on creativity (to draw kids—which will not cause Christ to burn inside them)
• Shortcut the sermon and just become a funny guy/girl (humor, if they are laughing they are with me and they like me!)

Music, games, porn, humor and snacks WILL NOT teach your kids to burn for Christ—especially during suffering (suffering must be in our conversations with the students after September 11th).
However, YOU knowing the gospel and how it affects EVERYTHING about us and delivering this truth to the students will ensure the fact that your kids will burn for Christ.

Pray over your kids. Weep over their names. Pray for their parent(s), their future spouses and children, their ministries and their education/career. Also pray hard for your life to be dissected by the precision tool of the Word of God. Pray for your life.

1Timothy 4:6-16 says,
6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; 8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

11 Command and teach these things. 12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Did you get that? Did you even read it? Read it again—several times. Let this weigh on you. See your responsibility as something more than just the “fun pastor” on staff.

Closing & very random thoughts…
• You are not hired to set/change policy
• Be loyal to your staff—especially your lead/senior pastor
• Guard your family life (even if you are not married or have children yet

This is basically what I shared. Pass this along but please don’t forget about it.
-Jroe

admin The Gospel, Youth Ministry humility, Liberty University, The Gospel, Youth Ministry